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Arsenal boss takes replay on chin but hints at referee mistakes

Arsene Wenger did not go the whole hog and blame the fact that Arsenal were held to a draw by Hull City today on the referee Mike Dean, probably because he was worried about being punished by the football authorities for criticism of their seemingly untouchable officials.

But as the live FA cup feed on the BBC has reported, the Frenchman did make a reference to the decisions of our old friend Mister Dean. He had good reason to as well because even though the referee was not as blatantly biased against the Gunners as he was in the match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and in other previous games, he did deny us two good claims for a penalty.

Replays clearly showed that Alex Bruce had moved his hand towards the ball when he blocked a shot early in the game. And after waving away a not so clear call for a foul on Welbeck in the box he failed to award another spot kick which we should have got for a trip on Chambers. Both of the BT sport pundits after the game agreed that Arsenal should have had the two penalties and they are not usually on our side.

But Wenger did not dwell too long on this aspect of the game and gave credit to Hull for their dogged defending while also suggesting that the Gunners should have done better in the creating and finishing of chances. And he admitted that having to fit in an FA cup replay is not at all what we wanted.

He said, “No not especially good news [having replay] but Hull defended very well. We were not incisive or accurate enough in our passing in the final third. As long as they did not concede, they maintained with how they played. We had 20 shots, 70% possession but no goals.

“I cannot influence the referee’s decisions, only the technical quality of my team. If we have no injuries, we can cope with the fixtures.

“I think FA Cup replays is a particularity of the English rules and you have to respect that.

“The Hull goalkeeper was outstanding and kept them in the game. It would have been decided with them or us scoring a goal.”

It took the Frenchman some time after the game to give his post match interview, so do you think he had much harder words for his players in the dressing room or was he trying to build them up for Barcelona after this disappointment?

Not really much mistakes by the Ref. Although I hate to say this but Mike Dean did pretty well. The starters simply don’t know what to do at the end of attack. The build up was good but no end product. The only good thing is Barca are playing 3 away games in 5 days and Ozil, Bellerin and Monreal had their rest. They will be the key for our victory. COYG!!!

Apply your thinking to your own life. How would you react to the so-called “hairdryer treatment”? If I got given a bollocking, I’d just hate the person who did it and lose motivation to do anything that would help them. Just because you’ve heard some managers flip their lid, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an effective approach. People react differently to things.

Disagree. Their wages and choice of employment don’t change who they are as people. As for the person above you, I’d be interested to know why both the North Korean and Chinese football teams are awful, given those views on their leadership styles.

Mourinho is actually an excellent example of the problems with such an approach. He can’t stay at a club for more than two years because every employee ends up hating him. He creates disharmony and every club he’s been sacked from has been left in a worse state than it was before he even got there.

The manager made some particularly interesting observations which I will like to consider:

1. “We had 20 shots, 70% possession but no goals.”

In other words we were sterile as F (you know, as in F9). Our 70% possession was spectacularly ineffective and this has been happening more frequently as of late.
How do you remedy that?
Well, I don’t know. Maybe the players needs to maintain more intensity and aggression in their passing and movement throughout the duration of the game. Pass quickly and with purpose. Whatever being the case, I’ll leave that to the manager to solve.

2. “I cannot influence the referee’s decisions, only the technical quality of my team. If we have no injuries, we can cope with the fixtures…”

You’re damn right Arsene!
There really is no point in moaning over referee decisions every time you don’t win a game. If you are a really good team, 95% of the time you’ll win games you deserve to win.

Our squad is so good (quantity-wise).. we will be able to play Hull in 5 replays. #FACT.

I, like Wenger, don’t understand why folks are losing their minds over this replay.

My suggestion will be to properly analyze the chances were creating to see why were not scoring them. Can we try to create more of them one on one chances?.. so that we don’t give these goalkeepers the pleasure of stopping a remarkable number of our shots on target. Maybe when Santi comes back he can add a little spice to our creative play so that at atleast we can have those type of chances that doesn’t give any goalkeeper a chance at stopping the ball.

these teams park the bus against us. we need to invite them to come out a bit so our attackers have more room. when their attack breaks down, thats our best (maybe only) chance. we need a very fast counterattack. the problem is that i dont think walcott one-versus-one can get it done. thats where you need a aguero or RVP or someone like that.
walcott isnt composed enuf. maybe a welbeck .

Arsenal: The Little Engine That Could Not
Arsenal: Chitty Chitty Crack Crack.

Pick your choice of title for this rerun.

It’s just a game, one could say. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t end up in the back of the net.

The point still remains – an Arsenal team could not break down the reserves of a Championship side to score a single goal.

But ponder this – every single one of Arsenal’s forwards – Walcott, Giroud, Welbeck, Sanchez (not to mention Campbell and Mislaid-Chambermaid) – featured in these 90 minutes. And could not score against the reserves of a Championship side.

Can there be any doubt left about the impotency of our strike force?

Before the close of the summer transfer window – players, pundits, fans and foes said “Buy a striker, buy a DM.” Coquelin’s absence to injury cost us at least 9 points. A DM of better quality than Flamini would likely have salvaged 6 of those points. Which would have us 4 points clear. And that’s being conservative.

A striker with the quality of Costa (yes I said it) or Vardy or Kane, would have gotten us at least an additional 6 points and we’d be through to the next round of the FA cup without an energy-sapping replay.

There is NO point trying for Champion’s League. This Championship draw shows CL is a bridge too far.

Who to blame? Wenger, that’s who. Two players costing $30-60m would have the Premiership sown up and out of sight by now. But stubbornness and delusion won the day.

We can talk about the players not showing up. But I’ll ask this – who are Arsene’s on-field deputies? Captain – Arteta: A shadow of his past self unable to kick the ball for 180 consecutive minutes. Vice-Captain – Mertesacker: A shrinking giant whose sloth like pace puts fear into the heart of every Arsenal stalwart. Could either of these men make it into the starting 11 of any other team in the top 6? Answer honestly. Terry, Kompany, even Rooney – how do Arteta or Mertesacker compare against them? Against Patrick Viera, our old gold standard?

However this season ends, it’s clear that Wenger cannot lead Arsenal forward to victory. Not in a league with Pep, Klopp & perhaps Simeone. Arsene’s been an excellent steward, no doubt. But a great shot using a musket is highly unlikely to persevere against machine gun equipped infantries.

The game has changed, for better or worse. Arlene may well be the last of the Titans, but without question he’s past his sell-by date.